This case study in Danish swimming was informed by a holistic ecological approach in talent development and aimed to explore (a) collaborative relationships between the Danish swimming federation, a municipality, and a local swimming club, termed “an organizational triangle,” and (b) factors influencing the success of their collaboration at the local level. Data collection and analysis were guided by the athletic-talent-development-environment (working) model and a newly developed collaboration-success-factors (CSF) model. Methods included interviews with talent-development coordinators representing the organizations and analysis of documents. Results allowed the authors to transform the CSF (working) model into an empirical model containing the collaboration preconditions (e.g., power to make decisions), processes (e.g., strategic planning), and initiatives (e.g., efficient use of the swimming pool) and shared assumptions of the talent-development philosophy (e.g., long-term focus). The success of this organizational triangle was visible in the way the organizations increased the quality of talent development in the local swimming club.

The aim of this study was to explore 11 case examples of successful talent development collaborations between sport federations, municipalities, and local clubs in Denmark in order to identify potential shared features of successful collaborations. We hypothesized that each case example would be unique, but that they would also share features that could be organized to provide practitioners with a model to guide the improvement of their practice. Grounded in the holistic ecological approach, the study was designed as a multiple case study to facilitate a cross-case analysis. Three Danish sport federations (handball, ice hockey, and swimming), nine municipalities, and eleven local clubs participated in the study, and the data was generated from 23 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Analysis led to the construction of six shared features of successful interorganizational collaboration organized into: (1) a list of features (SFIC-TD) with positive and opposite pole descriptors and three categories: collaborative philosophy, collaborative decisions, and collaborative actions, and (2) an applied framework termed the pyramid model for optimization of interorganizational collaboration in talent development (PIC-TD) which illustrates how the abovementioned categories lead to collaborative outcomes. Developing a shared philosophy of talent development was found to be a foundational starting point for successful collaboration between relevant organizations on the micro- and macro-level to improve the local athletic talent development environment.

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Introduktion: Der er efterspørgsel efter et håndgribeligt forskningsbaseret redskab til at guide forskere og praktikere i arbejdet med kompleksiteten i hele talentmiljøet. Formålet med dette studie er derfor at udvikle og teste et atlet-rapporteret redskab til at måle kendetegn og kvalitet af talentudviklingsmiljøer fra et holistisk-økologisk perspektiv. Metode: Henriksens (2010) feltstudier, britiske TDEQ (Martindale et al., 2010), øvrig litteratur og nationale anbefalinger dannede udgangspunktet for en række items til måling af psykologiske og psykosociale aspekter ved et talentudviklingsmiljø. Indholdsvalideringen bestod af ekspert- og atletinterviews hvorefter DTS blev administreret til 15-19-årige atleter fra forskellige idrætter. Eksplorativ faktoranalyse (EFA) (N = 111) og en kvalitativ vurdering blev anvendt til at reducere antallet af items og fastlægge faktorstrukturen. Efterfølgende blev en konfirmatorisk faktoranalyse (N = 357) anvendt til at evaluere og bekræfte skalaens faktorstruktur. Resultater: 33 items fordelt på otte faktorer viste acceptable model fit værdier, undtaget CFI (.851) og TLI (.83) der lå lige under cut-off værdien, og items viste generelt god konvergent validitet. Items mellem faktorerne viste signifikante moderate Spearman korrelationer (r = .16 - .62, p < .001) og en acceptabel Cronbach Alpha reliabilitet for syv faktorer (0.67-0.89) samt én faktor med lav reliabilitet (0.52). Konklusion: Første udgave af Det Danske Talentudviklingsmiljø-Spørgeskema (DTS) er et skridt på vejen mod et redskab til at evaluere kvaliteten af et talentmiljø og tilvejebringe vigtige anbefalinger til forskning og praksis. Testningen er foregået ved en lille stikprøve, hvorfor fremtidige studier bør undersøge DTS ved en større stikprøve, og undersøge for discriminant validitet samt for forskelle på tværs af idrætsgrene. Nøgleord: spørgeskema, holistisk-økologisk tilgang, talentudviklingsmiljø, faktoranalyse

The overall aim of this paper is to share our experiences in development, implementation, and evaluation of an intervention designed for establishing interorganizational collaboration in talent development between a Danish sports club, a municipality, and a federation. Yet, despite a neat plan, we faced several challenges in what turned out to be a less successful intervention. The account is based on the first author’s field notes, informal interviews, and intervention debriefings. The professional philosophy of the research team was informed by the holistic ecological approach and an empowerment approach. We used the pyramid model for optimizing interorganizational collaboration in talent development as a framework to design and guide the 7-month intervention that included four workshops covering (a) initiation: building relationships; (b) exploration: foundation for the shared philosophy; (c) clarification: negotiating values and strategy; and (d) implementation: from talk to action. However, challenges (e.g., resignations of key stakeholders) led to program adjustments and, ultimately, termination. This paper shows the nuances of a less successful intervention, which can help practitioners plan and carry out better interventions in the future. Despite the challenges faced here, we still deem the pyramid model for optimizing interorganizational collaboration in talent development a valuable framework for practitioners working at an interorganizational level.